To the untrained eye, it may have looked like Shaun McHugh was just spending some time on the wing to catch his breath.
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But a simple, yet brilliant, play late in the first half of Sunday's Caldwell Cup decider showed the sheer skill and awareness the Dubbo Kangaroos' stalwart possesses.
After packing down in a scrum inside his side's own half McHugh floated to the right wing as he moved up field, clearly one of very few who anticipated what was going to happen next at Tamworth's Scully Park.
This group of blokes is fantastic and it makes you really enjoy football.
- Shaun McHugh
The play went left, but five-eighth Mahe Fangupo switched back inside to barnstorming centre Filisione Pauta, who flew through a hole.
Faced with Illawarra's fullback Geurie's Pauta found one person there in support, McHugh.
The veteran second-rower collected the pass from his former club teammate, drew in a couple of would-be defenders toward the sideline and threw an outrageous, one-handed offload back inside to leave Pauta the simplest of finishes.
"He had the vision to see what was going to happen 10 seconds before it did," Central West captain Mark Baldwin said after his side won the final.
"He was absolutely instrumental today. He gets better with age, like a fine wine.
"He's not the youngest in the team but he just knows where to be and reads the game so well.
"Not many can do what he can."
McHugh was immense in Sunday's 45-21 decider demolition of Illawarra, popping up everywhere and scoring a try. That backed up his day one effort, he was outstanding in the Blue Bulls' win over Mid North Coast and scored in that one too.
Baldwin raved about his side's opening 40 minutes on Sunday, which McHugh and Pauta's combination capped off to give the Blue Bulls a 31-nil half-time lead.
McHugh was equally as delighted too.
"That first 40 minutes was the best [half] of football we've played as a group and I reckon probably best 40 minutes we've played individually as players," McHugh said.
"The whole 15 stood up and when the bench came on they really stood up as well."
Last weekend's NSW Country Rugby Union Championship marked McHugh's first appearance for the Blue Bulls sicne 2005, the rangy second-rower making himself available for a return following the outfit's decider loss to Illawarra last year.
Head coach Dean Oxley was more than happy for him to return, naming his skipper of the wider squad's pre-season New Zealand tour.
McHugh repaid that faith and then some, with plenty suggesting he was a genuine player-of-the-tournament contender last weekend - Harden's Shahid Khalfan won that prize - and predicting he's all but certain to win a NSW Country nod.
The respect the group and coaching staff have for McHugh was obvious when he received a rousing cheer after being substituted inside the final five minutes of Sunday's final.
"I've got a bit of age on me," the Dubbo Kangaroos captain joked.
"But I bloody love it to be honest. This group of blokes is fantastic and it makes you really enjoy football when you play at a level like this and in a game like we executed today."
To top it all off, that victory proved a very special one for McHugh considering he grew up and played his junior rugby in Tamworth.
Now a Dubbo Kangaroos stalwart, McHugh last played for the Tamworth Magpies in 2004 and although Scully Park wasn't the pristine surface it is now when he was cutting his teeth, it still holds cherished memories.
"Dad was in the crowd, which is great. He doesn't get to see many games of footy anymore so it was great to have him here and great to have a win in Tamworth," McHugh said of his homecoming.
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